Local riders make fifth stop on circuit

The Seven Summit Gravity Racing Team made their fifth stop of the BC Cup Downhill circuit at Silver Star in Vernon on the weekend.

The Downhill Cup made its return to Vernon on Saturday, along with the addition of a cross-country race on Sunday. Event organizer Cam Sorenson was excited about the return of the Downhill Cup and the challenge that awaited over 150 riders competing.

“We got the DH one day and the cross-country the other,” said Sorenson. “We ‘re going to be using ‘chainsaw mullet’ same as last year, with some updates, got a new wood drop, some jumps, and some new line choices.”

With dry conditions, many riders had trouble navigating the loose track, but Fruitvale’s Calix Webber came first in Open 13-16 Men in a time of 3:35.94, while SSGR’s Keegan Fry shot down the slope in 3:04.92 to take second place in UCI Junior Expert Men, just 0.15 seconds behind first place finisher John Walker of Duncan.

Rossland’s Gavin Patterson raced to fifth in the UCI Junior Sport, while J.T. Bjarnason survived two crashes with a 14th place finish.

Samara Kuhn raced to fourth place in UCI Junior Woman, while Nicola Kuhn placed fifth in 30-plus Open Women.

The BC Cup Downhill breaks new terrain in the final two stops of the circuit with the sixth race going at Big White in Kelowna on Sept. 1, and the final stop at Mount Washington on Vancouver Island Sept. 17.